


Down on Main Street

by discreet_insanity



Category: Naruto
Genre: Also fluff, As much of the cast as I can shove in here tbh, How Do I Tag, I have no plan, Modern AU, Multi, adding a tag for unexpected angst, but just know i ship mostly cannon, coffee shop au meets parks and rec au, everyone else is just trying to adult, i'll add relationship tags later, naruto just wants to be mayor, no one asked for either, only shenanigans, this story has a mind of it's own i'm sorry, unusual timeline/events
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-12-31 22:31:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18323270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discreet_insanity/pseuds/discreet_insanity
Summary: Naruto returns to his hometown, Konoha.   The place that holds his history, his memories, and his friends.  He finally feels ready to live up to his promise of becoming the mayor, except there's a small hitch in his plans.  Even though Kakashi would gladly hand the title over in a heartbeat, it is made apparent to him that no one will vote him into the office.  Now he needs to prove to his former classmates, childhood friends, and to the people who helped raise him that he's now a fully capable adult ready for leadership.At the advice of his old friends, he takes on the task of trying to revive the city's dying Chamber of Commerce.  The first thing on the agenda:  Convince the major businesses to help him revitalize and rejuvenate Main Street into a thriving hub of social and economic activity.   How hard could it possibly be?Only Konoha's never been good with change, and Naruto has his hands full with an apathetic city government, a rebellious new subdivision, an adult toy store, and a softball league gone completely out of hand.  (And they think HE'S the one with too much going on???)





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have literally no idea where I'm going with this, but I have a lot of ideas and a great desire to write.  
> So here, have this modern au that's like two parts Parks & Rec, one part coffee shop au, and maybe a third a tablespoon of Stardew Valley to round it out.  
> Expect shenanigans, expect fluff, expect romance, expect comedy, expect that I don't even know what you should be expecting

The wind flicks around the windshield to lap at his sun tanned cheeks as he presses his foot down a little harder on the accelerator. The bright orange vintage Chevy Camaro he’s spent the better half of four years repairing responds easily to the pressure. The engine purrs and then roars as he coaxes it to higher and higher speeds along the abandoned stretch of highway. Flanked by nothing but fields, he feels confident enough to actually test the car’s speed. A wide grin splits his face as the hand of the speedometer climbs high without so much of a hiccup out of the engine.

It’s a thrill just to have the orange monster moving. Naruto felt like he'd been tinkering and toiling with it for an eternity. Many a time throughout the process, he thought he would give up on his dream car entirely. He had mostly taught himself how to do a majority of the repairs. Parts had been hard to come by, and people were fond of jacking up the prices when he looked a little to eager upon finding them. The amount of rust on the body had him half convinced he would sand the car away to nothing before he could even get it to run. Then he’d gone on to mess up on the paint job at least half a dozen times. Not to mention repairing the interior had been his own personal circle of hell. All things he hadn’t considered when he spotted the faded orange body of the car half buried under some fallen branches in the corner of his mentor’s back yard. The old man had given it over willingly, and now he knew perfectly well why.

Despite the difficulties he’d faced, Naruto had finally succeeded at restoring the car to it’s former glory almost completely by the time his collegiate career began to creep towards a close. It was a fitting way to end his four year long stint at the prestigious but back breaking private university he’d attended. He’d busted his ass to get into Mount Myōboku, and then had to put in three times that amount of effort just to make it through. He’d just barely kept his head above water, working hard to both make the grades but also earn enough extra income to keep himself in text books and spare parts. Not to mention enduring the hours of physical therapy…

Academia had been stifling. Those four years had been packed with endless hours of instant ramen and sleepless nights spent either working or studying. He had been thousands of miles from home, cut off from friends and family. Yet there was too much he wanted to fit into those four years to waste time visiting. So he’d subsided on texts and emails that had grown more infrequent as the years passed. Without that constant contact, he’d needed something else to fill the time between classes and work. Thus the car had been a good distraction when he needed to clear his head and escape his desk.

That final part he’d needed to complete the job had been the ultimate graduation gift from his godfather. A reward for all of his time and effort spent to secure dual degrees in business and political science. Though Naruto would never admit aloud there was something just a bit more special about setting that final piece into place than there had been walking across a stage in front of a crowd of people he didn’t know.

His mentor, old man Fukasaku, had been there of course, lined up next to his wife with all the other professors at the edge of the stage. He was grateful for that at least, and for their shared hospitality over the four years. Yet their allowing him to occupy their spare bedroom and to look after them had always felt a bit like second hand kindness. A favor owed to a father he’d never known, and a godfather who couldn’t be bothered to actually show up for his graduation. This fact had only been slightly overshadowed by the glorious moment he’d set the key in the ignition and brought his pet project to life for the first time.

He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to thank Jiraiya or shake him. He’d figured it out soon enough, though. The hand marking 100 mph on his dashboard was just an indication that he was creeping closer and closer to home. Konoha, the town he’d been born and raised. A town he’d left a couple times before, always with the promise to return. And if the trees that began to encompass the landscape were any indication, he was close to yet another of his prodigal son moments.

As soon as the trees thickened so that they formed a tight canopy over the narrowing highway, Naruto hit the breaks almost on instinct. Too many wild rides as a teenager had long ago taught him that the city limits were a prime speed trap. A place for sleepy cops to set up shop hidden in the treeline just to catch unsuspecting passers-by… Or catch a nap in the shade. Naruto wasn’t up to gamble which option the patrolman on duty had gone with today. Thus he slowed down to the acceptable crawl for these parts, settling further back in his seat to enjoy the cruise.

He was tempted to put back the convertible top, but with most of his worldly possessions thrown haphazardly into the back, he settled with having the four windows rolled down. It was the perfect day to finish out his three day road trip home from school. The slight humidity of the morning had carried over into the afternoon, bringing with it the earthy scent of trees and wildflowers. A scent that carried a wave of nostalgia with it, bringing him back to a childhood of climbing the tallest tree he could find to scare his guardian witless. Of camping out during the summer months with his best friends, and laying in the grass to watch the stars. High school parties hosted out in the woods where no one could regulate how loud their music or laughter could be. He inhaled deeply, taking it all in as he flicked on his blinker to turn through a small dirt road peeking out through the trees.

His godfather’s place was just at the outside of town, one of the few places still surrounded entirely by trees. A solitary cabin for a solitary writer, or so Jiraiya claimed. Naruto was more convinced that the self imposed solitude had more to do with the fact that no one could bear witness to Jiraiya’s debauchery this far out of town. As if the whole population of Konoha hadn’t figured out that he was a perverted, if harmless, old geezer with a penchant for trouble. Probably the reason the two of them made such a fine pair. Between them, they covered a full spectrum of shenanigans the likes of which Konoha had desperately wished it had never seen.

The old man was still nowhere in sight when Naruto pulled up to the house. His godfather’s red Buick was missing from the gravel driveway leading up to the two story wooden cabin they had shared since Naruto had moved in at age 14. However, there was a little brown pickup pulled up in its place, and the sight of it made his heart stutter in his chest. He came to a slow stop behind the old truck, taking a shuddering breath as he scanned the front of the house. Sure enough, there was a figure seated on the stairs leading up to the deck, dark and brooding.

Grinning hard, Naruto threw his car into park and threw open the car door. The man seated on the steps made no move to stand, only arching a single black eyebrow in his direction. As if questioning what he was doing driving up to his own house. Unaffected, Naruto raised a hand in greeting, jogging forward, “Oi asshole! Don’t tell me you were waiting for me?”

“Who’re you calling asshole, when you drive up in a car like that? Moron,” With a scoff, Sasuke stood from the step, tossing the bangs from his eyes just long enough to level a bemused stare in his direction. Naruto could just barely make out the small curve to the corner of his mouth, taking the sting out of his words. Before he could conjour up a suitable retort, something collided roughly into his midsection, knocking the wind out of him momentarily.

Naruto laughed good naturedly at the shock, If only because his vision was abruptly clouded by a soft wave of pink. Sakura had him wrapped in a hug tight enough to fracture his ribs. Only instead of pain he felt an overwhelming wave of other emotions crash through him. He curled his left arm around her tentatively, and after a second of hesitation, the bandaged up right arm as well. Sakura had her face buried too deeply into his chest for him to make out her face, but he could just barely hear her exhaling his name. Like she was in disbelief. Like she was trying to make him as real as he wanted them both to be.

His best friends, waiting for him to come home after four long years. Naruto wanted to throw back his head in laugh in relief, or maybe bury his face in Sakura’s hair and just cry. Either way, he could expect Sasuke’s ridicule and -as ludicrous as it sounded- he anticipated it. What he hadn’t quite expected as a sharp jab to gut that had him doubling over in pain as Sakura danced back. There was a defiant look in her eyes to counteract the unshed tears forming at the corners.

“Welcome home Naruto. Now stop fucking leaving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll never guess what he names the car!  
> Thanks for reading.


	2. Travelin' Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy." - Scott F. Fitzgerald
> 
> Naruto reminisces on everything that's lead him away from and back to Konoha... Several times over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This... Started out fun and went to angst-land without warning.  
> Lots of world building going on in this chapter, and background story stuff.  
> No worries, though, shenanigans should kick off in upcoming chapters!

Friends are the people who show up to help you move your stuff. Best friends are the assholes who show up to watch you move your stuff by yourself.

It was taking Naruto a good hour to haul the stuff from his car up the wooden stairs and into his room on the far side of the cabin. Thankfully the long wrap around deck on the cabin's second floor allowed him to bypass the rest of the house and go straight in through the sliding glass door leading to his bedroom. Even so, it was a long trek, up and down the flight of stairs with boxes and bins in tow. And he was making the repeated journey back and forth entirely on his own while his friends enjoyed the luxury of his air conditioned bedroom.

Sakura sat framed by the natural light flooding in from his picture window, her legs curled beneath her on the window seat. Her head was bent over cellphone, fingers tapping idly at the screen as if scrolling through social media. A few tell-tale artificial shutter clicks were his only warning that she was sneaking pictures and videos when she thought he wasn’t looking. Probably letting Ino, and the rest of the town by proxy, know that he was finally home. Every so often she’d throw in some less than helpful advice about lifting with his knees to avoid dozens of different kinds of strains and sprains. She was listing the medical terms for each in a cheerful voice, as if the prospect of getting to diagnose him with one excited her. Naruto had a sneaking suspicion she was making new ones up every time he returned to the room just to give him hell.

Sasuke was sitting up against the headboard of his bare bed, arms crossed and head back. He appeared to be dozing off, but Naruto wasn’t even remotely convinced. Not when the bastard smirked every time Naruto seemed remotely out of breath. He even went so far as to scoff when Naruto paused mid-way through the chore just to stand in the middle of his half-empty room and pout at the two of them. With no sympathy to be gained by making faces at the the people pointedly ignoring him, he felt the need to resort to pettiness. Naruto slammed his suitcase a bit too roughly down onto his mattress in an act of retribution. The jolt forced Sasuke’s head to bounce hard back against the headboard. This little prank had earned him a sour glare from Sasuke, which he met with a smirk of his own. Content that he'd at least gotten some revenge, he'd resumed his task without any further complaints.

“Aaaaand that’s the last of it!” He finally announced as he walked through the sliding door for the upteenth time, this time with only a simple backpack over his shoulder. He tossed it to the floor and flopped face down onto the foot of his bed. He felt fairly sweaty by this point, and his nose was filled with the scent of dust and cardboard. What a state he was in! He gave an exaggerated groan, slightly muffled by his mattress. He could just feel Sakura and Sasuke’s eyes roll, and that had him grinning despite himself. Turning his head, he peaked one bright blue eye up at Sasuke.

“No thanks to either of you. Why’d you guys even bother to show up if you weren’t gonna help?” He whined, trying his best to sound as pitiful as possible. Sasuke didn’t appear to be caving in to his theatrics any more than he ever had. He even want so far as to reach out with the ball of his foot to give Naruto's shoulder a shove. A clear indication for him to shut up and stop acting like a baby. Naruto reached out lazily to bring his fist down on his friend's ankle in response. This might have incited some sort of fight, had Sakura not chosen that moment to seriously answer his question.

“We’ve helped you move loads of times,” Sakura answered matter-of-fact. Naruto raised his face up a little higher to try and give her his puppy dog eyes instead. As if his bids for sympathy weren't just another excuse to look at her again. She was wearing an oversized denim button down tied just below her navel, flashing a bit of her waist at him when she drew her knees up to her chest. She was wearing a pair of floral shorts, and all he could see when he looked at her was miles of long gorgeous leg. He pushed himself up onto his forearms so that he could actually focus in on her face. As if eye level was the problem, and not the sharp pang of dread upon realizing that distance and time hadn’t made her any less attractive.

Sakura wrapped her arms around her folded legs, resting her cheek against her knees. She was studying him with those bright green eyes, he realized, and his cheeks instantly heated up under her scrutiny. Naruto chided himself for even considering the option that she was checking him out the way he had been with her. Sakura had made it clear time and time again that she didn’t return his more romantic feelings. It had been easy to let that hope subside when thousands of miles could help sell him on the lie that he didn’t care. Now that he was back here, watching the way the sunlight turned strands of her hair from light pink to coral in his window… Well maybe feelings weren’t so easily reconciled as he’d hoped.

“Besides,” Sakura continued, ignorant of his internal struggle, “This is like the third time you’ve moved back into this house. It’s starting to be like a trend with you. At this point I need to be compensated or you’re shit out of luck, pal.”

“I mean, if you want to get technical about it, this is actually only the second time I’ve moved back. The first time I moved in here doesn’t count,” Naruto pointed out, “Since I didn’t technically live here before I left town.”

“He lived in those shit apartments they tore down a couple of years back,” Sasuke reminded her, unnecessarily. Naruto felt a twinge of annoyance on behalf of the so called ‘shit’ apartment complex that had been his home for most of his early childhood years.  
“Up until the old perv moved back to town and adopted him," Sasuke finished out with a general wave of his hand back towards the house belonging to the aforementioned pervert. Sakura shot him a finger gun to indicate that she'd only just remembered the fact as well.

“Turns out he didn’t actually adopt me or anything, he was my legal guardian the whole time,” Naruto informed them, tone light. This was relatively new information, as he’d never really dug into the matter personally until old man Fukasaku had started asking questions about his childhood that he hadn’t quite been able to answer. For instance, how he’d been allowed to live at home alone for years until Jiraiya had shown up out of the blue the summer before he’d turned 14. So Naruto finally turned around and asked his godfather for some answers of his own. He wasn't sure if what he'd found out had or hadn't surprised him. Even so, he went ahead to fill his best friends in on some of the blanks spots of his personal history.

“Jiraiya’s actually been my legal guardian since my folks passed. Supposedly, the only reason they left me where I was is cause Old Man Sarutobi covered for him. They couldn’t hunt down the perverted old hermit when they tried to find him, so the old man lied to social services to keep me out of the system. Jiraiya figures I’m pretty luck to have a guy with some influence looking out for me like that,” Naruto explained, his throat tightening. He hadn’t expected to get choked up just by saying something like that. He’d been a kid when HIruzen Sarutobi had passed away, but even now there was a dull ache inside his chest at the memory. The former mayor had been like a pseudo grandfather to him, the first person to even come close to feeling like family. Something Naruto hadn’t quite registered, until the man had passed away and left him with a wealth of unspoken gratitude.

Sasuke and Sakura let the moment of vulnerability pass without comment. He ignored the glance they shared, not wanting to fall prey to their knowing looks. He cleared his throat and pushed himself up to a seated position to buy himself some time to regain his composure. When he was comfortable, he waved his hand in a circular motion as if wrapping up the timeline of his story.

“The idea had been that me living on my own in my hometown where I had people to look out for me was leagues better than me bouncing around between fosters to end up who-knows-where. Then Jiraiya swooped in after the funeral purely out of coincidence, and hauled me off on one of his self proclaimed ‘artistic pilgrimages'. His idea, not mine. It’s not like I wanted to up and leave my old apartment, much less be dragged out of town. Remember? I missed out on freshman year of high school!” He lamented.

“You didn’t miss much,” Sasuke muttered, grimacing at what was probably a grievance that had long since past. This didn’t make him feel any better, but at least Sakura appeared to be fuming mad on his behalf.

“That crappy old super perv! It was bad enough when he couldn't even be home to see you after you've been gone for four _years_. But the fact that he could have been there for you all those years you were stuck living by yourself? That’s got to be the most irresponsible thing I’ve ever heard in my life!! Who just up and dodges responsibility for a kid who’s lost his parents like that? Then he just shows up out of the blue and hauls you out of school for a whole fricking year and drags you across the country doing GOD knows what-”

“Eh, you don’t want to know,” Naruto interrupted with a sheepish grin. Sakura rolled her eyes, kicking her legs out so that she could lean back onto her palms with a dramatic sigh.

“UGH, I can just about imagine. I've always known he was bad, but this year has really opened up my eyes to a whole new level of creepiness. Working for that old pervert has got to be the worst-”

“Ehhhhh? Did you say you’re working for Jiraiya now? Not at the bar?” Naruto interrupted, confused. Jiraiya hadn’t mentioned hiring Sakura to work his run down bar. Looming at the far end of the downtown area was Jiraiya's baby, The Drunken Toad. The bar was one of Jiraiya’s proudest accomplishments, second only to his infamous series of smut novels. He’d opened the bar when they’d finally moved back to Konoha, investing his oft squandered book profits to get it off the ground. At the time, Konoha had been severely lacking in places to get and stay drunk. The introduction of a bar to the central most part of town had been as well-received by the local drinkers as it had been protested by the more morally upright citizens. Two of the main reasons for opening it in the first place.

Jiraiya often had bar stories to share during their usual phone calls while Naruto had been away at school. Being a self proclaimed ‘connoisseur of beautiful babes’, there’s no way Jiraiya would have forgotten to mention hiring a girl like Sakura. So how had this escaped his attention?

In response to his question, Sakura became unusually quiet. She fidgeted in place, twirling a few pieces of shiny pink hair between her finger tips. Curiosity piqued, Naruto leaned forward expectantly. What was going on?

“You mean you don’t know about Jiraiya’s new- um, business?” she asked, hesitantly. At the shake of his head, she blushed a deep crimson and shot Sasuke a pleading look. Naruto scratched the back of his head, looking to Sasuke as well. Sasuke was smirking again, this time at Sakura’s expense. He had moved to sit at the edge of the bed, leaning forward to rest his cheek on his fist. He turned to look back at Naruto, and his mouth twitched a bit as if he were trying not to laugh outright. Which made Naruto even more curious as to what was going on…

“Seriously, I’m totally lost here?” Naruto supplied, just in case his look of total confusion was conveying that enough.

“Sakura’s been working part time at this little store the old perv opened up across the street from the bar,” Sasuke explained. He clammed up after that, still looking like he was going to burst into laughter at any second. A sight so rare that it left Naruto wracking his brains just trying to understand what could possibly be that funny. If there was maybe some sort of inside joke he had forgotten? He vaguely remembered Jiraiya promising to show him a new ‘pet project’, but he hadn’t even begun to think his godfather had gone so far as to open a store of any kind.

Sakura rushed in to finish up the brief explanation as succinctly as possible while still dancing around the primary question, “It was Ino’s idea, since she’s also putting in some part time hours there. He needed someone who could work night shifts every so often. They’ve been cutting back on my hours at the hospital because of how screwed up my class schedule is this year, so I needed the extra income. Since I’m used to being up most of the night anyway, it seemed like a good fit.”

“And you have time for two different jobs with all of your classes?” Naruto asked, incredulous.

“Sakura exists almost primarily on Red Bull these days,” Sasuke supplied, expression dropping to something a bit more familiar. That disapproving look was every bit judgmental and haughty as Naruto remembered. Sasuke had always been a ‘your body is a temple’ type, though not so much the type to say it out loud. He’d always looked down his nose at them for binge eating sweets during movie nights or ordering seconds when they were out to eat. Apparently this aspect of him hadn’t changed in the four years Naruto had been absent. Sasuke had said ‘Red Bull’ with the same emphasis people normally reserve for words like ‘heroin’.

“I do what I have to! That national certification exam ain’t gonna pay for itself you know,” Sakura groused, running a hand across her face. Naruto finally took a look past the rose-colored glasses of his crush enough to see just how bone tired she actually looked. She’d lost a bit of weight around her face, and there were dark half moons under her eyes. Now that Sasuke brought it up, certainly all the fidgeting she had been doing could have easily been attributed to the spastic energy Red Bull could give someone living on 3 hours of sleep a day. He could definitely attest to that.

“How many years left until you’re officially a nurse practitioner?” 

“If I survive this dissertation? A year and a half.”

Whistling, Naruto wiped a bit of imaginary sweat from his brow, “Dang, still got a lot of work cut out for ya. I guess I can’t be too mad you didn’t help me unpack then... What’s your excuse, asshole?”

“Why would I help you unpack, moron?” Sasuke retorted, “Plus you have too much unnecessary crap. What if hoarding ends up being contagious?”

“Wow, you really are the worst best friends. Not that I think back, you only helped me move in here the first time because Kakashi tricked you guys into thinking it was a mandatory class project!” Naruto accusingly, pointing between his two best friends. Only Sakura looked even a bit guilty as a result. When Jiraiya finally swore he was going to settle down and give Naruto a normal upbringing, it was probably too little too late. A year of his life had been spent being home schooled on a cheap laptop while his godfather hopped from one crazy bar adventure to the next. He had Tsunade to thank for being able to return home to Konoha at age 15. After being reluctantly convinced to run for mayor, she’d called Jiraiya back into town in order to get him under control. Under her careful watch, Naruto had been able to live out the remainder of his high school days in peace.

“To think, all the hard work we put in, and then you go and pack it all up three short years later and ran off to join the circus!” Sakura groaned, the picture of self pity. She popped up from the window seat abruptly, and began to rifle through the piles of boxes Naruto had brought up from the car.

Naruto huffed, affronted by this accusation, “I enlisted in the military because I wanted to help fight and protect our country, _Sakura_. And if you’ll remember correctly, Sasuke enlisted at the EXACT SAME TIME when we graduated!”

Sasuke nodded, “We went through basic training together, even."

“And then you both came back after four long years of comparing dick sizes or whatever it is you boys needed to join the military to prove-”

“I’m not sure you’ve ever really gained an understanding of what people in the army actually do,” Sasuke interrupted, ever critical. Sakura ignored him, flipping open a box to dig through as she continued her rant.

“And you come back and just expect me to help you BOTH move your crap home-”

“You didn’t help me move back last time either you absolute ass!” Naruto realized, reaching over to shove Sasuke’s shoulder. Sasuke retaliated with another shove. Growling, Naruto lunged for Sasuke’s neck, intent on getting him in a choke hold. Sasuke was quick to dodge, and the two fell from the bed to the floor with a thud in a sudden struggle to best each other. Not that the two of them randomly breaking into a fight was any surprise to Sakura any more. A arm full of clothing in hand, she had made her way to the closet in order to actually help put things away.

She had no qualms continuing to lecture them over their expletives and insults, “And because running around with guns for four years wasn’t enough excitement for you two, you go and sign up for the volunteer fire department as soon as you get home. When the whole idea of going to the army in the first place was so that you wouldn’t have to worry about paying for college! Not that I’m surprised, you two freak adrenaline junkies never could go a full week without doing something insane. Who needs to work at an ice cream stand for the summer while applying for colleges? Nah! Let’s run into burning buildings for fun instead! You guys seriously stress me out.”

Naruto couldn’t see Sakura from where he sat triumphantly pinning Sasuke’s good arm between his own. Sasuke was growling a bit too loudly for him to really listen to Sakura ramble on, but he got the gist. He’d heard the tirade enough times when he’d come home after 4 years of army service to immediately sign up for the volunteer fire department. Not to be outdone, Sasuke had signed up as well. Or maybe it had been the other way around? At the time, the claim had been that it would look even better on a college application than just the usual ‘I served in the military for as long as I thought it would take for them to pay for my tuition one day.’ Tempted by being able to train in the burn room had a lot of sway in Naruto’s final decision, also. Not that he’d admit that Sakura wasn’t far off the mark with her adrenaline junkie analysis.

There hadn’t been a fire in Konoha for over 20 years when he and Sasuke had signed up. They hadn’t expected to ever actually see any action. The few small things they’d been called out to handle were minor. A brush fire out near the highway. An overturned car with a smoking engine. That one time Konohamaru’s class set fire to a garbage can in some sort of idiotic and insignificant teenage protest. It had all been easy, and usually ended in with the three of them going out for drinks at The Drunken Toad at the end of the work day. Not wanting to be left behind, Sakura had inserted herself into their new adventure. Unable to quite shake her adolescent obsession with their mutual friend, Sakura had gone through EMT training despite having finished a bachelors of science the year they’d come home from the service. Sakura insisted it was purely a way to earn money and bide time until she was prepared to apply for medical school. Plus it would be a unique twist on job shadowing that would make her resume more impressive, just like theirs would be. Of course, putting off the grad school application had made granny Tsunade livid. She’d stepped down from the mayoral office and wanted Sakura to intern under her in some big medical research thing. Sakura had turned around and gone into training to be an EMT instead. To look out for them, she’d said, since it was inevitable that they’d get themselves hurt. Naruto didn't know if Tsunade had ever forgiven Sakura for this particular transgression.

Not that he really had the opportunity to ask now. Just when Naruto thought he'd gotten an ironclad upper hand, Sasuke turned the tables on him. Flipping him with a roll Naruto had never seen, Sasuke reversed their situations in one smooth movement. NAruto was now pinned face down to the floor. He let out a small keen of frustration, though he was old enough and experienced enough not to do more than that. With his luck, trying to wriggle free now would only result in Sasuke getting him in a tighter hold. Unconcerned with their rough housing, Sakura was rattling off a list of reasons why the two of them should never have considered firefighting as an option in the first place. The dull clang of a hanger being forcibly set into the closest punctuated each section of her well-rehearsed tirade. She'd practically written a paper on the subject when they were all 23. Naruto could just about hear Sasuke’s eyes rolling.

“You know, your opinion of our strong history in service to home and country is unusually critical considering your own profe-” Sasuke stopped short of what he was saying, releasing his hold on Naruto. With unbalanced motions, he stumbled to his feet. Naruto lifted his face from the hardwood, looking up to where Sasuke now loomed over him. The other man stood rigid, holding his left shoulder as he stared across the room with an unfathomable blank look on his face. Slowly, Naruto dusted himself off and rose to peek over his bed towards where Sakura stood in front of his closet. Trying to figure out what she’d done that had put Sasuke in such a state. Sakura was only half turned towards them, head bent so that her face was unreadable from his point of view. Her profile was only a pink curtain of hair, hiding whatever emotion was causing her shoulders to tense up to her ears. Rubbing the back of his hand across his mouth, Naruto stood, trying to figure out what it was she was holding that had put her in such a state. She was holding a jacket. Gripping it so tightly between both hands that her knuckles were a stark white. Unlike his usual orange sweatsuits, this was a heavy-weight material in a sickly greenish khaki with a few tell-tale stripes of fluorescent tape running along the sleeves.

Cold realization dawned in a shiver that ran the length of his spine. The heavy insulated jacket he’d worn as a firefighter. He’d half forgotten he even still had it, tucked away at the back of his closet. Abandoned. He’d been unable to return it, not after the last time he’d ever worn it. Just as Sasuke had, Naruto found himself reaching instinctively to touch his right arm- his prosthetic arm- at the sight of his old firefighter gear. He swallowed hard once, twice. Choking back bile, and the sudden taste of blood and ashes in his mouth. He lowered his gaze down to the bed, unable to look either of them head on. Not Sakura, who was fighting back tears, nor Sasuke who was fighting his own demons. Instead he followed those feelings back to the last time he'd been here in Konoha. A stupid 23 year old kid who thought he was a big shot because he'd done a little stint in the army. There hadn’t been a serious fire in Konoha in 20 years. At least that had been the history when he'd gone into the job. Young, eager, invincible, looking to prove to himself and the rest of the town that he'd gone away a boy but come back a man.

Surely it was fate that he was on the volunteer force the year Konoha’s 20 year streak ended? Wasn't it destiny that he and Sasuke happened to be on call? He’d survived the army, so what was a little house fire in comparison? How different was a training room from an actual burning building? He and Sasuke had figured out those answers at much too high a cost.

“I never quite understood it,” Sakura spoke up abruptly. Her voice quivers, but she hides her tears behind her hair.  
“How you could leave after something like that? Just up and walk off, casually following some typical ass life plan like that hadn’t happened to you. We almost lost you, both of you, and then you disappear. For four years. God,” Sakura paused, raising her face to the ceiling now as if to curb the tears. She ran an arm across her face with a harsh sniff.  
“God almighty, Naruto, I can’t imagine what that’s been like. I can’t imagine how you could do something like that halfway across the country all by yourself…”

Sasuke let out a sharp exhale then, turning away from them both. Naruto still couldn’t bring himself to look up. He tried and failed to force out a laugh. Anything to bring a little brevity to the situation. He hadn’t expected for them to be talking about this today, or ever. Had almost hoped that it could be left buried in the past. That when he left Konoha for the third time in his life, that a chapter would close in his wake and the pages would turn until it was buried too deeply to be reopened. He had left to try and forget what was impossible forget. To wipe away a single moment of foolish overconfidence that had turned from a bad memory that had turned into a reality sharp enough to cleave away half of his body. Now here they were, and Naruto was faced with a hard truth. Leaving might have felt like a fresh start, but it only left the past behind to fall stale. How long had the two of them been trapped in this moment, trying to play out this conversation in his absence? Trying to resolve the hurt they had felt when he'd run away with the final piece of the puzzle.

“They call you guys the town heroes,” Sakura added, voice barely above a whisper.

Sasuke’s bitter response was delivered so mechanically that Naruto could almost imagine they’d had this exchange hundreds of times before, “No one’s ever a fucking hero unless they come back with missing limbs or not at all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> S'yeah, that ended up being way more than I thought it was going to be. In more ways then one.  
> How do you like the background I've come up with for Naruto in the context of this universe? Good, bad, awful?  
> Let me know how ya feel!  
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
